TENBY: MP demands Welsh Water answers after boy hospitalised swimming in sea — as iconic North Beach loses Blue Flag for third time

Tenby North Beach has lost its Blue Flag status for the third time after its water quality dropped from “excellent” to “good” — triggering a furious response from the area’s MP and fresh calls for Welsh Water to be held to account.

Henry Tufnell, Conservative MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, has written to Welsh Water chief executive Roch Cheroux demanding an urgent plan to prevent further pollution incidents, after a young boy was hospitalised with sickness and diarrhoea following a swim in the sea at Tenby last week.

The same week, Natural Resources Wales issued a no-swim alert at Lydstep Haven — just a few miles from Tenby — due to concerns over water quality on 6 May, with warning signs still in place as late as 11 May.

Welsh Water subsequently clarified that the Lydstep incident was not linked to their infrastructure. NRW confirmed on 6 May that the no-swim alert at Lydstep was caused by a damaged privately owned sewerage system discharging onto the beach — not a Welsh Water overflow. Welsh Water said they had not spilled in the Tenby area for the preceding two months.

In his letter to Welsh Water, dated 12 May, Tufnell described the situation as “extremely concerning” and said Welsh Water’s poor environmental performance now posed “a serious risk to the health and wellbeing” of his constituents and visitors to the area.

“A situation like this has serious implications for our local economy, which relies heavily on tourism, particularly during the summer months when visitors rightly — and wisely — come to enjoy Pembrokeshire’s beaches,” he wrote. He asked Welsh Water to set out what immediate steps it would take to address the incidents at Lydstep and Tenby, and how it would ensure Pembrokeshire’s bathing waters were safe for everyone.

The loss of Tenby North’s Blue Flag was confirmed in today’s 2026 Wales Coast Awards, announced alongside the retention of Blue Flag status for a string of Swansea and Gower beaches. Pembrokeshire County Council did not apply for the Blue Flag for North Beach this year because the water quality had fallen below the required standard. Blue Flag beaches must meet the highest water quality thresholds — “good” is not sufficient to qualify.

The beach is one of Tenby’s most famous — used for Ironman Wales and the town’s Boxing Day Swim, and central to Tenby’s identity as one of Wales’s most celebrated coastal destinations. It previously held Blue Flag status for more than 25 consecutive years before first losing it in 2022.

This is the third time North Beach has lost the award. It failed to retain Blue Flag status in 2022 and 2023 when water quality dropped from “excellent” to “good”, recovered, and has now slipped again — raising serious questions about whether the underlying causes were ever fully resolved.

Water quality at Tenby North is tested by NRW each summer, with samples assessed for two types of bacteria. Welsh Water said the samples that triggered the downgrade were taken in July and August last year — and crucially, said there were no storm overflow spills in the area in the weeks leading up to those dates.

A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “These bacteria can originate from a range of environmental sources. Improving water quality is a shared challenge and progress will only come through coordinated action across sectors. Factors such as rural land use, urban runoff, industry, soil erosion, illegal misconnections and private septic systems all play a part.”

The company added it is investing more than £2.3 million a day to improve its services, including £2.5 billion between 2025 and 2030 on environmental improvements across Wales. NRW said it is actively investigating the reason for the drop in water quality, but no cause has yet been determined.

Owen Derbyshire, chief executive of Keep Wales Tidy, said the news was disappointing and described Tenby North as “an important local beauty spot and key tourist attraction.” He said the organisation was committed to working with authorities to help restore the beach’s water quality and regain its Blue Flag standing.

The area’s recent pollution history adds to the concern. In July 2024, Welsh Water reported a burst rising main near Tenby that sent sewage into the River Ritec, prompting NRW to declare an “abnormal situation” at Tenby South Beach, Castle Beach, North Beach and Penally Beach. Public warning signs were erected before being lifted after repairs and testing.

Tufnell said he would be speaking at the Broad Haven Paddle Out Protest on Saturday — part of a national day of action by Surfers Against Sewage across more than 50 locations — and said he would continue doing everything within his power to hold Welsh Water to account.

Tenby Castle Beach and South Beach have both retained their Blue Flag status in the 2026 awards — Castle Beach having held the award for an impressive 25 consecutive years — making the loss of North Beach’s flag all the more stark.

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GOWER: Protesters to rally at Caswell Bay this Saturday — one of Swansea’s Blue Flag beaches — as new data reveals Welsh Water’s worst decade for pollution

Caswell Bay — one of Swansea’s Blue Flag beaches, as recognised just this week — will be among the locations hosting a sewage protest this Saturday as grassroots charity Surfers Against Sewage mobilises demonstrators at more than 50 sites across the UK.

The Gower protest takes place at Caswell Bay at 10am on Saturday 16 May. A further demonstration is planned at Broad Haven in Pembrokeshire at 1.30pm, and at Porthcawl’s Coney Beach at 3pm.

The protests coincide with the start of the bathing season and new polling revealing that more than half of the UK public — 53% — worry they will get sick if they swim in rivers, lakes or seas due to poor water quality. One in six say they or someone they know has already become ill from sewage pollution.

The Welsh picture is stark. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water discharged sewage more than 100,000 times in 2025, for over 813,000 hours. The company recorded its highest number of pollution incidents in a decade in 2024 and has now received a two-star environmental performance rating for three consecutive years.

NRW data published last year showed Welsh Water was responsible for 155 pollution incidents in 2024, including 132 linked to sewerage assets — a 42% rise over ten years. The Loughor estuary was among the worst-affected catchments. Welsh Water was subsequently ordered to pay a £45 million enforcement package after a watchdog found serious and unacceptable breaches in its operation of sewage works.

In Wales alone, Surfers Against Sewage received 202 sickness reports linked to polluted water in 2025. Welsh Water customers face annual bills of £639 — among the highest across England and Wales — while 41% of the company’s revenue goes towards servicing debt rather than improving infrastructure.

Kate Bassett-Jones, protest lead at Broad Haven, said the local beach saw 116 sewage alerts in 2025 alone — a pollution warning every three days.

“For a place renowned for its stunning coastline and thriving marine environment, this should not be happening,” she said. “Local people should be able to enjoy the sea safely all year round, and visitors should not have to worry about getting sick when they come to Pembrokeshire. Communities are fed up with sewage pollution being treated as normal. Enough is enough.”

Saturday’s protest is not the first time Gower residents have taken direct action over the issue. A “Pooped Off” demonstration was previously held near Welsh Water’s Bishopston treatment works, with campaigners citing repeated discharges near Caswell and Brandy Cove.

Community groups have also been running their own water quality monitoring — Gower Society volunteers collected more than 275 samples across 13 beaches last winter, using Surfers Against Sewage laboratories, after NRW acknowledged it only has the budget to test between May and October.

Giles Bristow, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, described Wales’s water system as catastrophically failing, with polluted waters, high bills and a lack of accountability.

“Welsh Water has spent years illegally dumping sewage, misleading regulators and using customer bills to pay executive bonuses, all whilst water users get sick and foot ever-increasing bills,” he said. “Meanwhile, a failing regulator plods along without proper funding or power to tackle the problem.”

Natural Resources Wales, which regulates the water industry in Wales, has been affected by repeated budget cuts and is increasingly viewed by campaigners as unfit for purpose. A Senedd committee has warned that it does not have the resources needed to properly protect Welsh waterways, while the regulator has announced plans to adopt a higher tolerance of risk when investigating pollution incidents.

Bristow said campaigners were paddling out across Wales to show the newly-elected Welsh Government they would not back down until it takes the action needed to end the sewage crisis.

Protesters are calling for legally binding targets to end untreated sewage discharges into Welsh waterways, more funding and enforcement powers for Natural Resources Wales, and a world-leading water quality testing programme. Currently, water quality testing takes place only during the May to September bathing season at designated bathing waters — while people in Wales swim, surf, kayak and fish year-round.

Among those joining protests elsewhere in the UK is Julie Maughan, whose daughter Heather Preen died from E. coli after visiting a Devon beach in 1999. Actors from Channel 4’s docudrama Dirty Business — which told Heather’s story and has drawn comparisons with Mr Bates vs the Post Office — are also supporting the protests.

Saturday’s protests follow commitments from all political parties during the recent Senedd election to tackle sewage pollution, which campaigners describe as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the Welsh water system.

The full list of Welsh protest locations on Saturday 16 May: Caswell Bay, Swansea (10am); Llanberis, Llyn Padarn (11am); Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire (1.30pm); Porthcawl, Coney Beach (3pm); Barry Island, Whitemore Bay (4pm); Aberystwyth, North Beach (6.30pm).

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